CVSR is one of the largest central station photovoltaic solar plants in
the world. It has created approximately 350 jobs since construction
started in September 2011, and is expected to inject $315 million into
the local economy over its two-year construction period. NRG completed
the acquisition of CVSR on September 30, 2011.

Once completed, CVSR will power a yearly average of 100,000 homes with
clean, renewable solar energy, while protecting and conserving more than
12,000 acres of land in and around the Carrizo Plain in southeastern San
Luis Obispo County, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Electricity from CVSR is being sold to PG&E through 25-year power
purchase agreements.

“The private sector’s role is to demonstrate successful performance that
speeds commercialization of technology—on time and on budget—and that’s
what we’re doing at CVSR and all of NRG’s major solar projects,” said
Tom Doyle, president of NRG Solar and NRG’s West Region. “Equally
important, through large scale deployment, the private sector is
accelerating cost reductions through supply chain improvements, lower
balance of system costs and progress through experience that can’t be
achieved at the lab bench or in the factory.”

NRG is the sole owner of the project, which is expected to be fully
online by December 2013. SunPower designed the project, and is working
with Bechtel to provide balance of plant engineering and procurement
services and construction services. Once completed, NRG and SunPower
will jointly operate and maintain CVSR for two years, after which NRG
assumes sole responsibility.

“We congratulate NRG and SunPower on this important milestone at the
California Valley Solar Ranch,” said Fong Wan, senior vice president,
energy procurement, Pacific Gas and Electric Company. “PG&E provides to
its customers some of the cleanest electricity in the nation, more than
half of which comes from sources that are renewable or carbon free. This
project will play an important role in our efforts to meet California’s
33% renewable portfolio standard and make progress towards a clean
energy future for all Californians.”

“We are very pleased that CVSR is now delivering 22 megawatts of
cost-competitive solar power in San Luis Obispo County, while creating
jobs and economic opportunity for the local community,” said Howard
Wenger, SunPower president, regions. “Once the project is completed next
year, SunPower’s world-leading high-efficiency technology and history of
reliable performance will maximize the solar energy delivered to PG&E’s
customers over the life of the system.”

“The companies have worked very hard with county staff, resource
agencies, environmental organizations and the local community to
construct a renewable energy facility while protecting the unique and
sensitive landscape of the Carrizo Plain,” said Jim Patterson, chairman
of the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors. “We appreciate both
the local and global environmental and economic benefits this project
has brought to our county."

NRG has four large-scale solar plants fully or partially operational and
three other projects currently under construction across California,
Arizona and New Mexico, plus several distributed solar projects at
locations across the country. In the U.S., approximately 190 megawatts
of large-scale SunPower plants are operating, with more than 1,000
megawatts under contract.

About NRG and NRG Solar

NRG is at the forefront of changing how people think about and use
energy. A Fortune 500 company, NRG is a pioneer in developing cleaner
and smarter energy choices for our customers: whether as one of the
largest solar power developers in the country, or by building the first
privately funded electric vehicle charging infrastructure or by giving
customers the latest smart energy solutions to better manage their
energy use. Our diverse power generating facilities can support over 20
million homes and our retail electricity providers—Reliant, Green
Mountain Energy Company and Energy Plus—serve more than two million
customers.

NRG Solar LLC, a subsidiary of NRG, has more than 2,000 MW of
photovoltaic and solar thermal projects under development or in
construction across the southwestern United States. More information is
available at www.nrgenergy.com.

Safe Harbor Disclosure

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements are
subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions and include
NRG’s expectations regarding the California Valley Solar Ranch project
and forward-looking statements typically can be identified by the use of
words such as “will,” “expect,” “believe,” and similar terms. Although
NRG believes that its expectations are reasonable, it can give no
assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct, and
actual results may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those contemplated above include,
among others, general economic conditions, hazards customary in the
power industry, weather conditions, competition in wholesale power
markets, the volatility of energy and fuel prices, failure of customers
to perform under contracts, changes in the wholesale power markets,
changes in government regulation of markets and of environmental
emissions, unanticipated outages at our generation facilities, the
inability to access other financing arrangements, the inability to
implement value enhancing improvements to plant operations and
companywide processes, our ability to create and maintain successful
partnering relationships.

NRG undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. The foregoing review of factors that could cause NRG’s actual
results to differ materially from those contemplated in the
forward-looking statements included in this news release should be
considered in connection with information regarding risks and
uncertainties that may affect NRG’s future results included in NRG’s
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.

About SunPower

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) designs, manufactures and delivers the
highest efficiency, highest reliability solar panels and systems
available today. Residential, business, government and utility customers
rely on the company’s quarter century of experience and guaranteed
performance to provide maximum return on investment throughout the life
of the solar system. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., SunPower has
offices in North America, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia. For more
information, visit www.sunpowercorp.com.

SunPower’s Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements are statements that do not represent
historical facts and may be based on underlying assumptions. SunPower
uses words and phrases such as "expected," "will" and similar
expressions to identify forward-looking statements in this press
release, including forward-looking statements regarding (a) the
construction schedule and budget; (b) energy production; and (c)
SunPower building, operating and maintaining the power system. Such
forward-looking statements are based on information available to
SunPower as of the date of this release and involve a number of risks
and uncertainties, some beyond SunPower’s control, that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these
forward-looking statements, including risks and uncertainties such as:
(i) construction difficulties or potential delays, including obtaining
land use rights, permits, license, other governmental approvals, and
transmission access and upgrades, and any litigation relating thereto;
(ii) the risk of continuation of supply of products and components from
suppliers; (iii) unanticipated problems with deploying the system on the
site; and (iv) other risks described in SunPower’s Annual Report on Form
10-K for the year ended January 1, 2012, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q
for the quarters ended April 1, 2012 and July 1, 2012, and other filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking
statements should not be relied upon as representing SunPower’s views as
of any subsequent date, and SunPower is under no obligation to, and
expressly disclaims any responsibility to, update or alter its
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.